Saturday, 13 January 2018

The blog is an additional outlet for my love for Hindi films and Hindi film songs. It is an unbiased yet affectionate listen in to the music of our times.

Every Friday, I will feature one song among the many that fill the Bollywood film soundscape on the blog. I will also review the other new songs and soundtracks, apart from highlighting and talking in depth of that one Bollywood /Hindi film song of the week that stood out that particular week.

Legendary Playback Singers Lata Mangeshkar and Mohd Rafi

A Never-Ending Musical
Ever since sound came into Hindi movies in the pre-independence era, every Hindi film (barring a handful) have featured songs. The uniqueness of what is popularly now called 'Bollywood Movies' - is the lip-syncing and bursting into a song and dance routine at any slightest excuse or inclination.

Very few directors are able to make the song an audio-visual experience integral to the story. The rest, as they say, is mayhem.We talk here of the song as a purely audio experience. But notable visuals will certainly be talked about.

Now, there are over a million Hindi film songs and counting, which, if played together at the same time would resemble some epic fun-fair of sounds.In this blog, we celebrate many such songs and their makers, the transition of the same onscreen, the stories behind them, the legendary singers, how the failure of the film can take some beautiful songs into oblivion, and how box-office success ensures delusional immortality.

Thursday, 7 December 2017

Describing the Rupin Pass Himalayan expedition undertaken between May-June 2017 on these blog pages required selective text and a general tone. I have withheld a major part of my personal notes and experiences, for they won't serve the purpose of a travel blog.

There were several wonderful fellow trekkers who were part of the travel narrative. Barring a handful, I have omitted mentioning about most of them, to serve the travelogue's linear, minimal storytelling pattern.

The importance of having a good morning shit, mules, sharing water bottles, the thrill of playing Mafia, an afternoon of playing cricket, lining up for food and the final train journey to Pune are all elements that didn't make it to these travel blog posts. The ripples of the journey will be felt over the days to come.